Wheeled carriages for supporting a patient in a substantially horizontal position are well known in the art and a representative example of an early version of such a device is illustrated in Dr. Homer H. Stryker's U.S. Pat. No. 3,304,116, reference to which is incorporated herein. Another example of such wheeled carriages is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,256,812, which is presently owned by the Assignee of record for this invention, and incorporated by reference herein.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,579 discloses a unitary pedal control of brake and fifth wheel deployment including pedals mounted on the ends and sides of the wheeled carriage to control braking and deployment of a fifth wheel. This patent is presently owned by the Assignee of record for this invention, and is incorporated by reference herein.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,165 discloses a stretcher for transporting a patient including a rotatable shaft controllable to move an auxiliary wheel to a first position engaging a floor surface and moving the auxiliary wheel to a second stowed position spaced apart from the floor surface. Rotating the shaft to another position operates upon a linkage to transition the stretcher from a neutral condition to a braked condition.
One object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary wheel control mechanism that moves with the auxiliary wheel between the deployed and stowed positions.
Another object of the invention is to locate the auxiliary wheel control mechanism along the axis of rotation of a pair of laterally spaced auxiliary wheels.